The Tattoos
by The softest song
Summary: More painful than a normal tattoo, and more life altering by far.


_Ahh, finally,_ Ion thought. She'd just gotten home from school, and the house was empty. Her mom had excitedly texted her about her father surprising her with a month or so long stay at the beach, which was about 2 hours away from their home. Ion hadn't been shocked in the least. Her parents made the trip regularly, as did Ion. Of course, this time she had helped her dad sneak behind her mother's back. She couldn't keep a huge smile off her face as she thought about it.

She was also ecstatic about having the house to herself for relatively the next month. Ion was about due for some peace and quiet.

Then again, maybe not. Her mind pulled up the memory of art class that day. It was only Monday, and her cousin Zevy was already planning his next party this coming Friday. Ion's best friend, Andria, was pumped for it as always.

She smiled; those two could be the craziest partiers. Andria usually ended up completely wasted, and Zevy almost constantly had girls all over him. He'd begged Ion on several occasions to be his "girlfriend". They weren't related by blood, only by marriage, and even then they were third cousins. All long as it didn't weird him out, she was cool with it. Hell, more than cool with it; Zevy was rockin' in the looks department, not to mention he was really sweet.

So she'd watch out for Andria, and be there for Zevy if he needed her. Ion had usually been the one who'd only have a few drinks; she'd only been wasted twice, but she did enjoy a bit of a buzz.

Ion let her light eyes glance at the clock; four fifteen. So it was still fairly early. But what to do to pass the time.

She walked up stairs to throw her bag in her room, then plopped down on the bed.

Looking in her full bodied mirror, Ion studied herself. She was tiny; only four foot eleven, but generously curvy. her auburn hair, barely touching her shoulders, slightly shivered in the soft breeze from the open window. The features of her face were sharp, but softly arranged, giving her an odd baby face.

Rolling her eyes at herself, Ion lay back on her bed. A weird sensation shot in little zig-zags across her back. I must've landed on it funny. So she rolled into a different position. Oddly enough the feeling seemed to get worse. She frowned and wiggled around a bit. Which made it worse. Starting to get frustrated, Ion jumped off the bed and paced. The zig-zags began to hurt. Her frustration turned to worry, and then turned to panic as the ostentation started hurting so bad she began to scream and writhe on her bed in pain.

To Ion, she laid in her room alone hurting for hours, with no one to help her.

* * *

><p>When Ion resurfaced from her nap, she remembered the pain, and tensed in dread. Then she laughed at herself for the silly dream she'd conjured up. Crawling off the bed, she stretched, then headed to the bathroom for a shower. On her way out, she glanced at her clock. Wow, I slept all afternoon and night. Se shrugged and left the room.<p>

She stripped off her clothes. Rolling her neck, she reached back and rubbed her shoulders. She was surprised to find herself cringing in response to the tenderness on the skin of her back. Frowning, she looked in the mirror, and blinked at her reflection.

She looked away, rubbed her eyes, and looked again.

_Oh my god. Oh my god. OH MY GOD!** WHAT THE HELL?  
><strong>_  
>Perfectly proportioned on her back was a tattoo of a pair of angel wings.<p>

_WHEN THE HELL DID THOSE GET THERE?_

Ion couldn't stop gaping at the tattoo. It was beautiful, but she had no recollection of getting it._ Wait.. The pain last night.. Oh my god.  
><em>  
>She jumped in the shower, wincing when the hot water hit her tattoo. She had no idea what to make of it, or what to do about it.<p>

Soon she was on her way out the door to school. She didn't see either Zevy or Andria, so telling them would have to wait till third.

The entire first half of the day she was restless, and she constantly reached back to touch the top of her tattoo. She was also nervous about Andria and Zevy's possible reactions. But she trusted them, and they her, she told herself over and over.

Finally third period rolled in. Brennan wasn't there. They were in the middle of water colors, So neither Mr. Ransom Or Mrs. Jones had much to say. Then Ion's tongue was in a knot. But it was only a matter of a few minutes before her friends picked up on her frantic mood.

"Just tell us what's wrong" Andria said. Zevy wrapped her in a hug and murmured in her ear, "We're you friends, Ion. You can trust us." Stepping away, he asked, "So what's up?" She looked at both of them and muttered miserably,"Let me show you." She walked onto one of the storage rooms, them in tow.

Silently, she faced away from them and popped open the buttons lined down her back; she'd worn this shirt for the purpose of showing her tattoo. Silence greeted her when her back was completely exposed.

"When did you get that?" Andria whispered, awestruck. "It's so perfect."

Ion said nothing. Zevy walked around to face her and lifted her chin so he could look at her face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It appeared last night" She responded.

Andria inquired, "Appeared?" Ion nodded.

"You mean it just was suddenly there?" Zevy questioned.

"Hell no it wasn't just suddenly there. It hurt so mush I passed out at four-thirty and didn't wake up until this morning." She sighed. "I'd convinced myself it was a dream until I saw it in the bathroom mirror."

Zevy's eyes returned to her back, tight with aggravation. Andria just took Ion in a careful hug and held her. And of course to Ion's embarrassment, she began to cry. Her head dropped to Andria's shoulder as Zevy stepped up behind her to pull both of them in his arms.

They stayed like that for several minutes until Ion could pull herself together. Smiling as best she could, she thanked both of them and then swore them to secrecy, which Zevy managed to turn into a laugh-fest.

The rest of class continued without any other occupancies. She left the class smiling and with a lighter heart.

_What would I do with out them?  
><em>


End file.
